Finally, I am back. 

Busy? MIA? 

Actually I'm just trying to figure out - "What do I really want to achieve from this blog/site that I own". 

Fame? Sponsorships? Free stuffs?

Nah. 

When I first started out in 2009, blogging was merely a way to keep up with our gossip girls group (blogskins, cbox, endless linkings and mixpods) 

I remembered, my very first email created to use Blogger was peipei-princess@hotmail.com (which btw, I deleted already) and my blog was called "Rachel's Daily Life".

My sister helped me to set up, and back then her blog was really nice too! Her generation did it better than ours (as in, girls in schools having blogs to share stuffs).

I realized content that I was posting; some weren't true, some were just boring stuffs.... Even if my life can be different and all; there was clearly not much of a purpose to blog there. 

Well, mainly there to spam each other's C-Box. Back then I didn't even knew that views could be tracked, the last thing I remembered was that yes people do read that blog; maybe about 3-5k of audience since it was just a thing among my girls and I

Then, as I moved on to secondary school - I made my worse mistake by creating a new blog that acted like a personal diary.

I was sharing content that was way too personal, thinking nobody would read when back then some of my classmates actually took the content as part of their conversation topics (but no lah I don't blame you guys, we were all childish kids).

It took a while, and finally in 2014 I started out the blog of racheljiaang.com.

Not easy at all; like I mentioned, many things changed - blogs aren't just our diary anymore. It became an advertising platform as well. When I started to know about XX and some other "Bloggers".

Thinking back, I didn't look good or whatsoever. Neither was I some object or viral figure on any social media platforms. How to be a "blogger"?

I have to admit, after joining this ''online sensation" kind of competition, I realized I didn't fit in this whole idea of "bloggers - free food - fashion - OOTD - reviews" blah blah kind of thing. 

It's like I was trying too hard just to be like them even though I know I can't. 

Moving on, I started off with my first ever review (which by the way, wasn't sponsored at ALL) for Owndays Sunglasses. And BAM. That went pretty viral within a day. It first garnered over 500 UNIQUE views and many came from Japan; then I realized why - Owndays Facebook shared it and even one of their staff from Japan's HQ shared it on his facebook.

See the power of one share can bring? 

Till date, I have a total of 10962 unique views and counting for this very post.

But the thing is, it has been giving me so much views on this blog even as I was inactive for some period of time, stats always showed that my readers are generally here for that review.

I thought to myself; Why?

"One share only ma... what can it do?"

1) I wasn't any "blogger/influencer" big shot.

Hence it was generally perceived as more reliable.

2) Everything was basically MY OPINION and not a PAID OPINION.

Content was pretty balanced, information and my own opinions about the sunglasses.

Note: I am not trying to say that a sponsored post isn't reliable, but back then people weren't transparent about it. 

Like some renowned salon that has many bloggers back then raving about it for its multiple coloured ombre dyes which took Singapore by storm - yet only to be another disaster when real reviews can be found on fashion undercover (if I'm not wrong) whereby stories of hair getting "fried" at the salon unfolds with the bill soaring up to $500+ (because it's ombre ma and your quoted Blogger Name discount is actually what brought you there). 

You see.. 

1) Their service might be good - but it's only for their so called influencers and bloggers whom they provide services in exchange for an Instagram post or feature on their blogs. 

2) Yet when it comes to you - a consumer; things just don't go as well. You might be paying for a junior stylist. They might be served by the salon's director stylist.

you never know. 


Why not. Since the bloggers can share their opinions (without even mentioning it's sponsored) - why can't a consumer complain when it's simply double standards.

Until today, especially after learning POM with my beloved Ching Chong Lecturer, I still stand by my belief that:

"Consumers are your best advertisers if needed, they pay for your products and services - even if they aren't big media personalities online - WOMM (Word of Mouth Marketing) is what they are best at. Good or bad, one word of mouth can allow the entire office or organization to know about YOU." 

Even as an emcee, I tell my audience this..

Why provide the best for someone who doesn't use your services AT ALL (Until you hired him/her as your official celebrity/blogger-influencer to endorse for your brand) while paying them still. 

The term "Brand Loyalty" is basically experiencing a slow death in the market.

With the rise of so many new markets and platforms, majority of the people would opt for a cheaper option (due to economy this year as well) or go for one time trials to benefit themselves. Is it wrong? Nah, even I do that as well. 

That's because I don't see a reason to stay committed when I have supported for the longest time.. just treated like a regular stranger and not someone of value. 

For me, I am willing to pay for a service/product even though I know that the cost is low, but the value is great. And what comes along with it - service, attitude etc.

That pricing we see, does not only contribute to the product's cost ONLY, but their electricity bills, staffs' salary, own revenue as well as rental... What others usually see is the big picture. 

It is not wrong to get celebrities to endorse for your brand, but well - balance it and treat your consumers right too. 

This is also why till today, I only advertise/write about brands that I believe in. Same goes for hosting; never ask me to promote your beauty packages that will only end up as a pressurizing time for the consumer cooped in a room forced to purchase more. I do not believe in in-ethical practices in order to generate sales.

Although brands do approach me too, I personally do reach out to some and let them know that I would like to feature them. If I get a discount the next time, good for me. If I can get a discount for my readers; good for all of you. However the difference is that I am not getting paid in a lump sum of money to "advertise". 

What is 10% discount like? It's more of a three way thing where all of us do benefit from it: content & savings. 

To be honest why my blog was named as my name back then it's because many were doing the same: easy to remember, you are your own brand, sounds good with a .com domain..

But I realized it isn't what I wanted.

Probably Wednesday from Addams Family (Adult Series) gave me the inspiration for my brand's name - Thirteentuesday. (You can find out more about my brand subsequently at "About" page) 

It was that unique me. 

I don't want to be an influencer/blogger nor to be labelled as that. 

I just want to be seen as someone who can achieve her goals who's also self opinionated to write down her thoughts and bring content to people. 

So it brings back to the question I always asked myself.

What content do I want to bring to all of you?

I consider myself as a general blog writer, and I always wanted to touch on topics like national issues, sports and feature writing for brands with occasional life stories/obstacles I face which might be inspirational for all.

In addition, this website would also serve as a digital portfolio for my works & emcee profile as well. (that is why I have my menu tabs for easier navigation - although not ready yet)

Thus.. this isn't just a regular blog. It's my personal website - Thirteentuesday. 

I might be exploring into sales as well in the next 5 years (I always wanted to design planners) so yeah, a female entrepreneur might be on her way!

All in all, I just want to thank all those who have stood by since day 1 this site was set up, so many changes; but you're still here.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and my 2016 yearly goodbye post will be up on 31st December as usual.

Till then. [full-width]

I think we all will experience failure whether is it towards our studies or life at some point of our life, for me it's the former; that is what I'm facing now.

After receiving back my preliminary results, I think I had a slap from majority of the subjects that I am taking. As I observed no improvements or constant results (except HCL).

Not sure if 10 was that unlucky number, but for 4 of the subjects that I took, my usual score dropped by 10 marks.

Subjects that I was good in it, suddenly became a nightmare for me; sort off. And after reflecting and analysing the problem, I figured out why. And I'm pretty glad.

• Maths

Basically today I am just going to blog about what and how I feel about DPA and what is it like for me, now.

Okay so it has been quite a long time since I talked about my grades so I am probably going to do it today..

I had my mid year exams last month and to be honest, it wasn't that good but it wasn't that bad either. I had my ups and downs and yeah I failed maths once again. One thing I really hate about myself is that I tend to ONLY study the day before my exams. And surprisingly, I can still do well but then the fact is that I had the capability to do even better. It really sucks somehow. But then the amount of effort put in wasn't as great as some people who did it in the long run, so yeah I am happy with my results because the time I put in wasn't that much, so at the end of the day I still didn't lose out.

Having said that I know that this will not work for my O levels. I should start now to change my bad habbits, but this has been going on for 4 years already. Sometimes I feel lost. Aware of the directions but no actions are taken.

So for mye, for subjects like maths and science I just flunked it all.. F9 for both. For physics it was because I was sick the previous day of the exam, my mcq was alright 14/20 but for my paper 2 it was horrible the calculations had error I remembered some stuffs wrongly etc. Otherwise I could have passed. What pulled me down was really my chemistry, to be honest I feel really helpless at this point because sometimes despite self studying myself, there are certain things I still don't get it logically but only in my own way of learning. And I don't have a teacher to really rely on..

For my humanities, well I did badly (To me) I could have scored an A1 easily if I actually did study more the day before but I succumbed to my tiredness.. But still I scored 33/50 for SS and 32/50 for Geography. So, for SS I actually studied the wrong topic despite me making notes for the correct one I did 2 weeks prior to the exam.. I guess luck wasn't on my side. I understand that some people may say, that me getting 65 is high so I should probably shut up and not be sad about it but the thing is I used to be the top for humanities in my class so I was kinda sad and I know that B3 isn't my standard. but considering the time I put in for it, I guess it was really good; however how long can I count on this intelligence of mine?

However on the bright side, I did well for my F&N and my Higher Chinese, I actually scored 71/90 for my composition and I was one of the top in class. Although I flunked my paper 2, I got a B4 still which I am happy about it. The teacher told me that my composition is currently the best in the class, and the reason why some of the other students marks got moderated highly was because the marker was their CLIT teacher. #Ihavenothingtosay So yeah, it was a great motivation for me to do even better and I know this would drive me more to get that distinction for Higher Chinese.

For F&N theory, I topped the class as well with 71/100. To me I was happy, but then not really because I did have certain hints and I studied all the topics involved somehow, by reading through and scribbling. I'm not sure if for Os I can do this but it is definitely and achievement for me as I showed my true capability of doing well getting A.

For English I actually just maintained, failed comprehension but I did well for paper 1, like always and I scored the highest in my class for it. This mye I actually tried writing narrative.. I got comments that my essay is more like a blog post/speech so I probably want to stick to discursive and get higher than 22.

So through all these I guess I have better strategies planned ahead for me to do even better in the last lap. But for my maths and science.. especially maths I should really somehow pray for extra help too.

This is actually in regards to those whom actually felt unhappy about me tweeting my results on MY twitter and you saying really not so nice things like I shouldn't boast or like oh it's nothing etc. Well, the block function is there and I didn't force you to read or such. It's quite funny that I didn't hear it myself but there are people who actually come to me and tell me who said it. To be honest, I don't really care about your comments because I deserve to be happy because of such ''small achievements''. So what if my class ain't the top class? To me small achievements is what that pushes me to do better. It's never too small or too big because an achievement is an achievement. Why can't one be proud of themselves when they accomplish something? So it means that by showing is proud and I should pretend to be humble and hide it? What happened to ''being yourself''? Those tweets are meant for my archive anyway for me to read it 10 years down the road to see what happened in my life, if you don't like to read about it, simply go click the block button or unfollow and yeah don't even bother bitching about me behind my back like how I am doing now on my keyboard. #Anotetoyou

Now to the part when I am actually going to talk about, JC or Poly. Most of you actually do know that I am actually aiming for Mass Comm in Np or Tp's Law.. But here's the thing, I decided to go for DSA in NYJC as well. Why? Because in case I can't make it for the DPA. I always have the idea that it's good to have plan Bs in life. To be honest I don't suit JC at all. I am a very lazy person and I always do my revision for exams the day before. Jc life is very constant and work needs to be done everyday. But why do I want to aim for a JC as well? It is because there is a perfect subject combination for me, and my love for humanities is really huge. Econs, Geog and History with a H1 physics I guess since its the best among my lousiest sciences and math. I think when one studies his or her fav subjects, he or she will tend to do better as well.

My teachers always said that I suit a poly more and I should just enter there straight away etc. . what's stopping me now is probably my O levels.. So I decided to take on both DPA and DSA and see how's the results like. To me if I can't enter either, I would probably quit government school and enroll myself in a private college and pay for my own school fees etc. Because I don't see myself in any other streams nor courses. It's like now or never.. Mass comm or dropout.

I once thought to myself, if I were to go to a jc, chances of me starting to change into a more serious person is probably, less than 20 percent. But I never know. So I should probably not doubt myself. And I hope that I won't just be an average student but someone who stands out in terms of grades and such. I don't want to take courses that I don't like in university. Law requires 4As.. Or a GPA higher than 3.86 or 3.96. Which I believe if I were to enter Mass Comm, my passion will drive me to the top. Its more like of a different story. 2 years of studying core subjects then entering a uni or some route, or 3 years of learning different skills and subjects then entering to a uni or other routes. I have friends who regretted taking the JC route but I guess if you don't want to regret, choose the one that is best for you not just because it's the norm to every other person. If you don't know any course to go at this stage or probably love to study I guess you should be the JC type.

Right now, I am still waiting for my results on whether can I proceed to the interview or trial and such.. I probably will do well for interview.. but I never know. I always believe that there are certain things that were already pre planned, but yeah I guess I'll just stay tuned. I hope that I get through at least one. Otherwise I'll lose that extra drive to do even better. It's like telling you that you have a school already even before you take your Os.

To everyone of those whom are still doubting themselves or such, PLEASE DON'T and hurry go to the DPA portal and sign up for it. Don't tell me that your results sucks or whatsoever, I have 2 F9s for my important subjects but I am still going to do so because these results currently DON'T define your true ability to do well in your future. Don't give up and I urge each and everyone of you to TRY. It doesn't hurt at all really. International business or sciences.. Just try. Do not doubt yourself or give it up just because the cut off point is very low. If you do you are a loser, if you don't, good for you. You may fail in the end but hey that will drive you even more to do better because you want to prove to them that you got what it takes to go into their course but they missed you out right? It's always good to be positive but i like the idea of having both. - Both positive and negative thoughts, I may doubt myself at times but this will eventually push me to prove people wrong.

It's now or never. Give it a try, and you may see yourself studying at that dream school of yours tomorrow. :)

For me, I will definitely buck up on my studies while lazing around and having fun.. also I will aim to finish the assessment books I bought for over 200$ of hard earned money.. and hopefully scoring well for Os? I look forward to prelims already. 2015 is passing really fast, and I like it! Will update if I pass my DPA or such.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE, REMEMBER,


 NEVER GIVE UP. 

[ps; so looking forward to WWE LIVE on the 2nd of July. YAYAyAYAy }

2014.. How was it like for you? Apparently, this year has to be one of the worse in the kpop industry, airlines industry and many more. Maybe even for Singapore, because the amount of homicides, murder, serious robberies, sagas ; aka the Jover Chew mobile saga, operation #Opsairkangkang, and many more. Oh and did you hear about this R rated movie that Sam Loh, a filmmaker based in Singapore actually directed just for the Singapore International Film Festival? Too many stuffs.

To me, I didn't had a lot of expectations in 2014. Because I know it will be quite a tough year. For the following reasons ;

1. Even years were horrible for me. (For the past few years) 
2. This year, my zodiac the rabbit actually ''Fan Tai Sui'' aka conflict with the gods.
3. It was secondary 3 ; new environment, classmates, subjects.